Cuba visit aimed at normalising ties: Obama

As the first US president in ninety years to touch down in Cuba, President Obama’s presence will make a lasting contribution to the ongoing efforts to forge a new relationship between our two nations, one that helps unlock the potential of the Cuban people and the country’s rising entrepreneurial class.

“I’m focused on the future, and I’m confident that my visit will advance the goals that guide us-promoting American interests and values and a better future for the Cuban people, a future of more freedom and more opportunity”, said Obama in his weekly broadcast from the White House.

“American companies are starting to do business in Cuba, helping to nurture private enterprise and giving Cuban entrepreneurs new opportunities”.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, whose father came to the USA from Cuba, said Obama shouldn’t visit while the Castro family remains in power.

Vidal also noted that the visit marks a further step toward improvement in relations between Cuba and the United States.

Following secret negotiations between their governments, Obama and Castro announced in late 2014 that they would begin normalizing ties, and months later held the first face-to-face meeting between an American and Cuban president since 1958.

“We have had exchanges on this issue on the basis of respect, equality, reciprocity and non-intervention in internal affairs”, she said.

“Cuba is open to speaking to the government of the United States about any topic, including human rights”, Josefina Vidal, the Cuban Foreign Ministry’s director-general for the United States.

“I’ll reaffirm that the United States will continue to stand up for universal values like freedom of speech and assembly and religion”.

Obama hopes to persuade Congress to lift the trade embargo – Havana’s biggest request of the U.S. Although short-term prospects have seemed unlikely, some Republicans have suggested Congress could pass legislation repealing sanctions by year’s end.

It’s time for a reset, and Obama is right to put his finger on that particular button. Still, while Obama has long expressed an interest in visiting Cuba, White House officials had said the visit wouldn’t occur unless and until the conditions were right.

Both Democratic presidential candidates, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, support moving toward normalizing relations and lifting the trade embargo. “And to the people of Cuba – nos vemos en La Habana”.